Diamond Hogs end rally in walk-off fashion, beating Texas Tech 9-8

This baseball team keeps finding ways to win ballgames.

Arkansas has been perfect in their midweek games, but last night was the first time Arkansas played a power-5 team between series. Texas Tech came into Fayetteville looking to knock off the No. 2 ranked team in the nation and nearly succeeded.

Without their trio of weekend starters, pitching in the first half of the game was pedestrian at best. The Hogs gave up seven unanswered runs in the first four innings. Pitcher Ben Bybee gave up six in the second inning alone.

Together, the bullpen gave up seven earned runs on ten hits in the first four innings, but when Arkansas' offense woke up in the bottom of the fourth, something clicked on the mound. The pitching staff combined for one earned run on three hits and eight strikeouts in the last five innings.

Amazingly, Texas Tech reached base on balls or a hit-by-pitch only twice.

Until the bottom of the fourth inning, Arkansas' bats weren’t doing them any favors. The Razorbacks threatened with a man on third base in the second inning but went three-and-out in the first and third.

Things began to warm up with an RBI single in the fourth. In the fifth, though, hitting exploded. The Razorbacks manufactured a six-run inning of their own to tie the game. Jason Jones started the five-hit inning with a leadoff double and ended it with a strikeout after going through the entire batting order.

However, the Red Raiders fought back. In the seventh inning, Texas Tech's Austin Green hit a solo home run on Will McEntire's first pitch of the night, giving them the lead. Their pitching staff held off the Hogs until the bottom of the eighth.

The Diamond Hogs worked hard to be in the game late with a chance to win, but it was Texas Tech who gave the game away. Arkansas tied the game in the eighth on an error, and in the ninth, they reached on back-to-back errors and an HBP to load the bases with no outs. Star freshman Nolan Souza hit a sacrifice fly on the following at-bat, bringing Jared Sprague-Lott home for a walk-off win.

The win was a much-needed confidence boost after dropping the series against Alabama last week. And with a win today, the Hogs can get back on track for their series against South Carolina.